HIGH Horizons - Heat Indicators for Global Health

HIGH Horizons - Heat Indicators for Global Health

The new HIGH Horizons project addresses a number of key knowledge gaps around the quantification and monitoring of direct and indirect impacts of heat exposure on maternal, newborn and child health.

We quantify and monitor direct and indirect health impacts of extreme heat on pregnant women, infants and health workers, test a personalised Early Warning System, and implement integrated adaptation-mitigation actions in health facilities.

A smartphone app (ClimApp-MCH) will deliver warnings and setting-specific messages, co-designed locally. The app will be evaluated among 200 mothers and infants in Sweden, South Africa and Zimbabwe, from antepartum through 12 months of infant age. Modifications to health facilities will be co-designed and modelled to reduce heat exposure for health workers and to limit the carbon emissions of facilities. Health worker outcomes and facility emissions will be compared pre- and post-intervention. 
Throughout the project we engage relevant stakeholders in both the conduct of the research and the dissemination of project findings, prioritising country partners, EU and global policy makers and leveraging existing networks. The project is funded by the European Union (8.8 million euro) and UKRI (2 million euro), runs for four years, and includes ten partners across nine countries.
Contact persons: Stanley Luchters (scientific coordinator) and Birgit Kerstens (project
manager).